Tackle footballsubject of conference

ZURICH American and international doctors will discuss the safest ages to play tackle football at the Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport this week.

More than 100 medical experts from around the world, including leading U.S. doctors Stanley Herring and Robert Cantu, will take part Thursday and Friday.

Herring serves as the director of sports spine and orthopedic health at University of Washington Medicine and was a leader in getting passed the state's landmark Zackery Lystedt Law in 2009.

The primary elements of this law were passed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, benefiting millions of young athletes by mandating concussion information be read by student-athletes and parents.

The law also established a ground-breaking, return-to-play protocol: that following a concussion, only a health care professional, not a coach, parent or athlete, may clear an athlete to return to play.

Herring serves on the NFL's Head, Neck and Spine Committee, and on USA Football's Football and Wellness Committee.

Cantu is a neurosurgeon and concussion expert at Boston University's medical school

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